I flew with Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Toronto a few weeks before COVID started to decimate the industry. The reduction in air travel has impacted the way airlines provide inflight catering at the moment, however, as demand increases hopefully we will go back to the way things once were.
The main reason for booking this flight was to experience the Lufthansa A La Carte dining options available for economy and premium economy class passengers. These meal upgrade options cost between €15 to €25 per meal and before the pandemic the airline offered seven meal options. Lufthansa recently advised that these meals are gradually being re-introduced on flights from the USA (Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Washington) with other ports to follow soon.
I pre-arranged the Meditterean Delights and Healthy Option a la carte meals with the airline before my flight.
LUFTHANSA SENATOR LOUNGE
Before the flight I visited the Lufthansa Senator lounge, here are some photos of the food on offer during my visit.
INFLIGHT
Twenty mins after takeoff snacks were hand-delivered and a few minutes later drinks were offered from the cart.
There were three crew members working in my section at the rear of the aircraft, two crew worked on the left-hand side while one crew member worked on the right.
The Medittereana delights was delivered 50 mins after take-off and consisted of a garden salad with balsamic dressing, king prawns and artichokes on spaghetti in a tomato and basil sauce, and Tiramisu for dessert.
The meal presented well and was akin to a business class meal experience with small touches such as a menu, proper cutlery, ceramic plates, a larger meal tray and cute salt and pepper shakers. It offers excellent value for money and in my opinion, is worth paying the upgrade fee of €19.00. The pasta dish certainly didn’t skimp on the prawns either.
In economy class the standard meal choices included a beef goulash or vegetarian pasta option, here’s a look at the economy class meal tray without the main meal and a look at what was served in premium economy.
Once the main meal service was completed additional wine and water was offered, followed by tea and coffee, and it took the crew about two hours to complete the service. At the end of the service bottled water was provided in economy class, it’s not often that you’re provided with bottled water and I thought it was a nice touch.
SECOND SERVICE
About 90 minutes before landing the service began, special meals were handed out followed by the meals/drinks and a hot towel service completed the service. The standard meal service in economy class on this flight offered a sandwich for the second meal service, however, I also received my second upgrade meal.
My Healthy Selection meal included a Chickpea and matcha salad starter, with a spicy red vegetable curry on quinoa and a Chia seed and mango mousse. This meal retails for €15.00 and offers excellent value considering what’s provided.
The spicy curry was delicious and flavourful and the chia dessert was mouth-watering. I thoroughly enjoyed the meal and appreciated all the small touches that the concept offers. It was my first time flying Lufthansa on a long haul service and my inflight experience was enjoyable. The A La Carte meals offer exceptional value and are similarly priced to other pre-order upgrade meal programs offered by other airlines. Further information on these upgrade meals can be found here.
A big thanks to the team at Lufthansa for arranging these meals for me, they were provided complimentary, however, I did pay for my airline ticket and all opinions are my own.